I wanted to say thanks for all of the replies, especially to whoever
talked about the dilemna of finding something to fit his 5'2" wife.
This was also a criteria for us, as Teresa is about 5'0".
In sifting through everything we've basically arrived at a V8 Exploder
(probably a '97). We eliminated the Tahoe because neither of us
wanted to own or drive something that disgustingly large. To put it
perspective, between the two of us we have a Miata, MR2, 968, and
MX-6. Which reminds me, the Miata is for sale!
We heard alot of positive responses about the Durango, so we went last
night and test drove a '99 with the 5.2l V8. Teresa had problems with
reaching the pedals and not being too close to the wheel, but this a
problem on most vehicles. I must say that going in I wasn't all that
confident about Dodge's maintenance record, and well, now I'm really
not that confident. When it was my turn to drive I noticed
gear/transmission type noises, but figured maybe that was normal for
these vehicles. Well, it wasn't normal as it started slipping out of
gear (an automatic) with any signficant rpms (over 2K or so) or decent
throttle (1/2). I found this really amusing when we were stuck in the
middle of a busy intersection, especially on a truck with 45 miles on
it. I was able to limp it back to the dealer with a very quiet
salesman by going into N and back into D when it would have problems.
To summarize, I don't think we're too interested in a Durango anymore,
though we were impressed with it's storage capacity. I can't say we
were impressed with the power because of the aforementioned
transmission problem.
In talking to a few different people I've heard similar stories about
the quality of Grand Cherokees, plus their relative lack of storage
space. The only Landcruiser response was from Chris Coxx, who used one
to tow to Topeka a few years ago, and he said they hated it because it
was too slow. If he's saying that while towing his CSP Miata, then
that's a problem.
So, it looks like an Explorer since it seems to be the best
combination of storage space, towing capacity, and reliability.
Thanks again for all the responses.
-Andy McKee
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